Category: Uncategorized

It’s that time of year again, it’s a month filled with fun rides and events, it’s Bike Month!! May is going to be a GREAT month for biking in Eugene and Springfield. It’s a good time for fair-weather cyclists to roll those steads out of the garage and for everyone who rides bikes to celebrate together.

A special thanks to the organizers and supporters of May is Bike Month. Along with WeBikeEugene volunteers and community members these partners help make this month of events come together and happen!

School has started and local kids (and bike safety education instructors) need your help to make the community rides a success.

The 4J, Springfield, and Bethel School District Safe Routes to School programs are hosting the City of Eugene River House to teach Bike Safety classes in select 5th and 6th grade classrooms throughout each district. The program includes in-class teaching, on campus riding drills, and off campus community rides. Volunteers are needed to ride with students on the final two days of the program to help maintain a safe environment.There are rides Thursday and Friday, morning and afternoon, starting this week and continuing through mid-November. Visit the SignUp.com site for schools and dates or call 541-682-6321 for more info.

The Jane Higdon Memorial Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation is a major sponsor of the Eugene-Springfield Bicycle Safety Education Program.

I’ll post any finished articles and press releases that are sent to me. Other people are free (and encouraged) to continue writing for the site as well.

I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I’ve decided that I cannot run this site for the time being. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, since I haven’t been updating it or returning WBE-related e-mails. When I started the site a little over a year ago I had a lot more free time, and I saw a huge need for the site to exist. I still see the huge need, but I don’t have a lot free time. I also envisioned the site being a lot of work at first, but then being easy to run with lots of volunteer writers helping. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I don’t blame anyone – I’d rather be riding my bike than writing about bikes, too.

A couple things really brought this to a head. First, Dave Roth has left Eugene and taken a position up in Vancouver, BC. I wanted to write a huge story about it and how awesome Dave is, but I didn’t have time. It was a very important story to write, and I couldn’t do it. Other important stories have also fallen through the cracks, like the Fern Ridge path likely being fixed this summer, and a debate about bike lanes on South Willamette. A reader was even hit a by a car and I wasn’t able to write about it.

The second reason, and the most selfish, is that WBE has stopped being fun and started being an obligation. I was feeling guilt about hiking in the redwoods last weekend instead of writing for WBE. I almost skipped the EWEB Earth Day party to stay home and write. I didn’t even do an April Fool’s day post this year. That’s crazy! If I have free creative time I need to spend it writing for The GreyMatter Jugglers, not WBE. I’m sorry, but I can’t do both right now. I’m looking at a summer with 17 grad credits and every weekend booked with performances.

WBE will still be exist and run, of course. I’ll post any finished articles and press releases that are sent to me. Other people are free (and encouraged) to continue writing for the site as well. I’ll also be putting more time into our twitter account and using that as a news aggregate. I may even write an article if I feel like it, but I won’t be keeping track of everything in my head. In short, the site will continue much like is has the last few months, but I won’t feel guilty about it. I’m looking forward to not feeling guilty.

When I have time again, if I feel like it, I’ll throw a huge part of my life back into this site. For now I’m going to focus on having adventures. I’ll see you on the roads and trails.

This just in from the coordinator of the Project Homeless Connect bike area. I volunteered here last year and it’s a great project! Please consider signing up to help out. You don’t have to be a pro mechanic, many of these bikes need major help but just getting them to the “safe” level of working brakes and parts not falling off is big step towards safer mobility for a lot of people! Here’s the information:

I am the logistics coordinator and the bicycle repair area leader for Project Homeless Connect. The event is happening next Thursday at the Lane Event Center. Each year, many social service agencies, with the help of hundreds of volunteers provide a multitude of services for about 1500 homeless and at-risk persons. I still need 7-10 bicycle mechanics to help repair bicycle for homeless and at risk persons at the event. You don’t need to be a professional or have training. We are only doing minor tune-ups and changing flat and worn tires and tubes. If you have some basic tools and a repair stand, I can really use your help! I am needing mechanics for both morning and afternoon shifts, but am especially desperate for mechanics to fill the 11:30am -3:30pm shift. We typically repair over 100 bikes each year at the event. If you can spare a few hours next Thursday, please sign-up to help. You can sign up by using this link:

Scroll down (to #4) to find the bicycle mechanic position and sign up! There are other positions that still need volunteers if you prefer not to work on bikes. I hope to see some of you at the event. If you wish to learn more about the event, feel free to contact me at kko@springfield-or.gov.

Local bike advocate, Whiteaker Neighborhood Council member, and car-free father of four, Paul Adkins has submitted a proposal to the City of Eugene to install the first non-business related bike corral in Eugene. This may even be the first residential on-street bike corral in the nation. Many cities around the country are installing bike corrals in business districts including Portland, San Francisco, New York, and Boulder and as many readers know, the City of Eugene has plans to install three bike corrals this summer. Portland has even done a bike corral in a neighborhood, however that corral was done in the “planter strip” between the sidewalk and the roadway. This corral would actually replace a car parking space with bike parking for about 10 bikes.

The neighborhood bike corral would create a community amenity and utilize public space for a different type of parking than traditionally provided and one that matches the neighborhood usage. As Paul states in his application, “in a residential area where there is more bicycle traffic than car traffic, public bicycle parking is not offered. In this case, local residents simply prefer bicycles in the parking strip rather than autos in order to welcome people that are turning more to bicycles for transportation.” Continue reading “Whiteaker Resident Requests to Install First Residential Bike Corral”

The Transportation Remix party at the Oregon Electric Station on October 22nd was a great time. The room was packed with over 100 people for the three hour event, and CAT’s valet bike parking was filled to capacity. The event was part of the planning for Eugene’s new Ped/Bike master plan, covered earlier by WBE here.

The first hour of the event had a party atmosphere with an open bar and snacks, followed by three 20 minute presentations and then an hour-long question and answer session with the panel. ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Sheila Lyons did a great job moderating the event, and had much to add to the question and answer session.

Update:Alan Pitman over at EugeneCycles.org has also published a great writeup of the Transportation Remix. He even included a link that I’d forgotten to mention: Elly Blue’s article on Grist about the “Safety in Numbers” phenomena, which was a large theme in Ed Fischer’s presentation.

If you missed the party, or just want to live it again, take the jump for videos of the three presentations, copies of the presentation materials, and a slideshow!

Elly Blue (of BikePortland.org fame) and Joel Biel are stopping in Eugene on their Bikestravaganza: Off the Chainring Tour! They’ll be giving a free 2 hour presentation at the Greater Eugene Area Riders (GEARs) general meeting. Quoted from the GEARs blog:

For our September general meeting GEARs is pleased to present Joe Biel and Elly Blue in their Traveling Bikestravaganza! Please join us on Thursday, September 9th from 6pm to 8pm for a traveling road show of bicycle talk, movies, zines, and transportation activism and advocacy. Elly Blue and Joe Biel will present short videos and a slideshow about Portland, Oregon’s famous bicycle culture and infrastructure, followed by an interactive discussion of the future of transportation infrastructure and advocacy in our town and beyond.

Everyone is welcome at the event, even non-GEARs members. It will be held from 7-9 pm on Thursday, Sept 9th in Room 240A, McKenzie Hall, University of Oregon. (map)

I asked Blue to provide WeBikeEugene with a short explanation and writeup of her travels (10 states in 30 days!), and to explain what the Off the Chainring Tour is all about. Take the jump to read her response and to view their video trailer.

Pulled this off the Willamette River Bridge site and it’s worth passing on to remind folks to be careful, courteous and safe out on the paths, especially with all of the construction going on.

Speaking of construction, the Fern Ridge path section near the fairgrounds has opened up- it’s nice! Would post a photo if I actually had any time to take and upload one =). They have moved the construction farther west now and are working near Chambers and the Blue Heron Bridge. Last night when I passed by they were done for the night and the fencing was down and people were going around the construction. I think that shows two things that need to be improved: 1) People need to obey signs and barriers, not doing so can not only be dangerous but also cause the project to take longer. 2) They really need to mark GOOD alternative routes for people. I don’t think they’ve done that very well on this project- there are alternatives but they don’t guide cyclists through them (like they would car drivers). They really need to place signs telling cyclists where to go for the alternative route, not just “Path Closed- Use 17th”.

Anyway, here is the information from ODOT regarding the I-5/Willamette River Bridge work:

Last week we received comments about safety on the path in the area just north of Knickerbocker Bridge where paths from all directions merge into one very busy intersection. If you frequently use the paths near the Willamette River Bridge project in the Whilamut Natural Area you are familiar with this area. I encourage you to use caution at all times and follow the signs and flaggers.

Good news is this intersection is temporary during the duration of the project. Currently, now it balances safety and ongoing mobility for path users and construction traffic. Land use regulations and discussions with key stakeholders were also considered when this configuration was created.

I encourage you to slow down and observe path traffic in this area so you minimize risk to yourself and other path users. We have recently moved construction fencing and added signage to increase visibility and awareness of this key intersection. Please be alert through the area and stay safe.

On another note, users of the Canoe Canal Path as it passes under I-5 should watch for concrete water dripping from overhead. The bridge deck was poured on Thursday, Aug. 12, and the dripping will continue for the next two weeks as the new deck dries.

Even though it may not seem like June, summer is upon us–and if you’re involved in racing that means crit season has come! What are these crits I speak of? Criteriums (a.k.a crits) are bike races held on a short courses (typically less than 3 miles) and are often located on closed-off city center streets. This style of racing is much more spectator friendly because of its high lap counts and relatively close to town locations.

Want to know what it feels like to ride a cycletrack? Come out to tomorrow’s “Cycletrack Demo Day” to find out.

As reported previously, the City of Eugene is considering a cycle track as one of the design options for an Alder Street corridor update happening this year (between Franklin and 18th Ave.). This new corridor could allow cyclists to access the river path more conveniently from the south side of town. Along with a two way bike lane and some other design options, the cycle track is the design most people are the least familiar with but that has the greatest potential to increase the comfort, safety, and usage for cyclists.

Since cycle tracks are a new concept the City is setting up a demo so that community members can get a feel for what it’s like riding a bicycle on a 2-way cycle track facility. Come check it out; bring your bike and helmet and give it a ride! The paint will be down for awhile so if you miss tomorrows demo swing by some other time to check it out.